Lyrical writing exercises10/2/2023 ![]() Needless to say, let your mind and pen/fingers wander wherever they want to go. Which may take your mind to the day your nephew was born. And that may lead you to the memory of how time would feel like it dragged forever when you were waiting for test results at a hospital. You may write about the first time you pressed your ear against it to hear it ticking. Let's say your object was "watch." It may remind you of a watch your grandfather used to carry. Occasionally look back up to the top of the page and reference the different senses to make sure you're using all of them.Īs you're writing, you don't have to stick to the object you started from. Don't go back to correct typos or the grammatical mistakes. Don't stop to think or try to make things sound nice. It should just be a constant flow of thoughts that are coming to you. Don't try to give it rhyme, rhythm, structure, or reason. In fact, you don't even have to write full sentences. Set a timer for 10 minutes and start writing about the object using the different senses ![]() Choose any object: something on your desk, something outside, a baseball hat, a watch, a paperclip, a light switch, confetti, asparagus.Ĥ. On the top of the page, write out the seven senses so you can reference them easily as you're writing.ģ. Grab a piece of paper (or create an empty document in the text editor of your choice on your computer)Ģ. Getting started with object writing is simple:ġ. In its principle, object writing is a short exercise that is supposed to help you engage all of your senses. Don't just tell us about a room/object/moment let us experience it. One of my favorite songs that uses vivid imagery is Faith Hill’s “ When The Lights Go Down.” See if you can find all the different senses are that are being triggered.įollow that old writing tenet-show, don't tell. Rather than saying "I'm excited, I'm excited" they're taking your hand and letting you experience how they're feeling.Īnother example can be found in Peter Cincotti’s “ Another Falling Star" or Linkin Park’s “ Crawling.” Use your kinesthetic sense to bring clarity to how you’re feeling and show us what’s happening. Listen to the chorus of Fifth Harmony's “Sledgehammer” and you'll see that it's all about that organic sense. Are your muscles aching? Is your heart beating fast? Is your breath shallow? All of this relates to your organic sense. The organic (also called body) sense relates to your own body and what it's doing. The first five you probably know, but the last two may need an introduction. There are a total of seven senses that you can use: Sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, organic (body), and kinesthetic (motion). But these details can make stale songwriting come to life, and that is exactly what object writing can help you strengthen. You would probably unconsciously omit other sensory details, skipping how the room smells, how it sounds, how the old sofa feels when you run your fingers on it, how it feels when you sink into it. There's a TV hanging over the fireplace, and across from it, a sofa sits against the wall." It's bright, with two windows on each of the side walls. Something like: "It's a large, rectangular room. If I were to ask you to tell me about the room you're currently in, you'd probably describe its physical attributes, using only one sense-sight. I originally learned about object writing from brilliant lyric guru Pat Pattison. Object writing is a writing exercise that focuses on describing an object and any related experiences, using all of your senses. One of the best exercises you can do to strengthen your lyric writing is through object writing, also called sense-bound writing. In either case, you need to train your idea-building muscles so that when you're ready to write, your ideas are ready to be accessed. Some songs come quickly, while others seem like they don't want to be born. As a songwriter, you're frequently searching for ideas from your own experiences.
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